"Whatever." I say, walking off from the table.

I hear someone run up to me, thinking it's Jug I slow down and wait.

"You okay?" I turn to see Sweetpea standing next to me.

I furrow my brows.
"What?" I ask.

"You seem, I dunno, fed up?" He says awkwardly. We continue walking to the exit of the school.

I let out a small laugh.
"I just miss my dad is all. No big deal."

He nods understandingly.
"Wanna go for a ride?" He asks.

We exit the school and stand out on the steps, overlooking the parking lot.

"What, on that?" I say pointing to Sweetpea's motorcycle.

He nods, a grin tugging at his lips.

"Uh-"

"You'll be okay, I'll go slow." He says laughing.

"Shut up." I say, playfully punching him, "okay, but if I break anything, you're dead."

He takes my hand and nods, smiling.

He grabs the spare helmet from the compartment and places it on my head.

"I'm not a child." I say.

"I know Princess." He says, fasting the helmet for me.

I groan, "stop calling me that."

"Whatever." He says and hops onto the bike.

I stand there for a moment.
"Come on." He says, patting the seat.
He smiles at me, then looks me in the eye.
"Trust me, you're gonna be fine Princess."
I give in and jump onto the back. I quickly wrap my arms around his waist and lace my fingers together.

"I'm shitting myself." I say.
I hear him laugh, and he starts up the bike.
My stomach is full of butterflies and I feel like I'm gonna be sick.

We start of very slow, then we get onto a straight road and I can't help but feel like we're in a movie, I smile against his leather jacket.

"Go faster." I shout.

"You sure?" I hear him ask.

"Yeh" I say.

"Whatever you say." He says and revs the engine.

My stomach drops for a second as if I'm on a rollercoaster and I sort of let out a yelp.
I feel him chuckle, "You good?"

"Yeh." I say, slowly digging my nails into his stomach even more, he'll probably have marks after this.

"Shout!" He says.
I lift my head up.
"What?" I say.

"Whoooo!!!!" He shouts really loudly.
This whole thing just keeps reminding me of a movie.
I roll my eyes and laugh.
"HELLLLLL YEEEESSSSSSS!!!" I shout, laughing.

I hear him laugh and shake his head.

After a while of just riding around, he pulls over by the side of Sweetwater River and we both hop off the bike.
I unclip the helmet and take it off my head, running my fingers through my now windswept hair.

Pea grins and me.
"Fun?" He asks, leaning on his bike.

I shrug, trying to hide my grin.
"Could've been better." I say and he laughs.
"Whatever 'Miss Please Go Slow" he says.
I roll my eyes and laugh.
"Okay it was fun." I say, looking down at my feet.
I sigh.

"Why do you care about me?" I asked calmly, my eyes boring into the tall Serpent boy infront of me.

"Who said I did?" He says smugly, a small grin tugging at his perfectly formed lips, he turned to face the river.

"Fuck you." I say bluntly and look over at the trees beside me, the awkwardness filling the air.

I feel him look at me.
"You're cool." He says simply.

I laugh and turn to face him, "sure I am."

"Seriously, you are. I'm not gonna do the 'you're so different from the other girls' speech because I'm not that type of guy, but really, you're cool, I like you." He says.

I nod slowly.
"Thanks... I mean I suppose you're not so bad either." I say, smiling.

He rolls his eyes and gestures for me to stand with him, we both lean on the small railing in front of us, preventing us from potentially falling to our death.

I can't help but think of Jason Blossom. Although he was on the football team, and sometimes took part in ripping apart my brother, he was a good guy. Me and Cheryl used to be good friends, but things changed and she grew to hate my family, and so I cut her off.

Sure I'm on her cheer squad- was, I mean now that I'm at Southside I don't think I'll be going any kind of school 'team'.
But we were mutual to eachother, sometimes I think that she feels bad for disliking my family, but then I think nah.

"I don't wanna go back to school." I say to Pea.

"Same here." He agrees.

"I just wanna stay here. Forever if it's possible." I say, taking in the fresh air.

"You might get cold." He says.

I shrug.
He hops over the small fence and I raise my brows.
He doesn't even look at me, but he walks down the small slope towards the waters edge and he just lays down.
I laugh a bit, then do the same.

"This is quite frankly very dangerous" I say, laying down next to him.

"It's peaceful though." He says.

I nod in agreement.
"I'm sure you've done more life threatening things that lay by a waters edge"

"You're not wrong. I keep telling myself 'never again' to these types of things, but I still find myself in the same situations feeling even worse than I did before" I say.

"You feel sad laying here?" He looks at me confused.

I shrug.
"Kinda... I knew Jason. The boy who supposedly drowned in this river, but actually got shot by his own father."

"Sorry. I shouldn't of brought you here." He says turning to me.

I shake my head.
"It's not your fault, but if it makes you feel any better I like being here with you."

- - -

SLOW DOWN // SweetpeaWhere stories live. Discover now